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Diocese in Europe hosts consultation on refugee crisis

By Gavin Drake

Posted Oct 13, 2016

[Anglican Communion News Service] A priest on the frontline of the Anglican church’s work with refugees in Europe has told a consultation in Cologne how he first became involved in this aspect of his ministry. “I was going to do the Wednesday service at St. Paul’s Church and passed through the central square in Athens,” the city’s Anglican chaplain, the Rev. Canon Malcolm Bradshaw, said. “To my surprise I saw an encampment of 200 Syrians.” After taking the service, he said, “I walked back and wondered through the encampment and began to speak to them; and this was the first sight of this great movement of refugees into Europe.”

Later, when the Bishop of the Diocese in Europe Robert Innes made a parish visit to Athens, they visited one of the detention centers in the city. “We were both deeply surprised and shocked at what we found,” said Bradshaw.